So I've set the trailing shadow scale to 2.5x less than the actual ship size, in order to present the appearance of distance. At the ship's coordinates (ship.x and ship.y), I've shifted the shadow so it is visible, due to not being directly underneath the ship. You'll have to change the numbers based on your specific game. The Z coordinate of 800 is lower than the coordinate for the ship. This technique can be applied to other craft, too.